Things I've Watched Recently on Crunchyroll

 I've been on a fantasy anime kick, so I've been checking out some shows (beyond Frieren, which I have already been enjoying) in that genre.

Sentenced to Be a Hero (2026) is based on a series of light novels by Rocket Shōkai. It tells the story of Xylo Forbatz, a former knight, now member of Penal Unit 9004. He and the rest of his misfit unit were executed for various crimes then raised with (apparently, it isn't entirely clear) low level superhuman abilities. They are at the forefront of humanities war against the Demon Lords who spread fungal-like Demon Blight. Forbatz's life gets more complicated when a Goddess, Teoritta, binds with him, the Goddesses being a limited resource human's use to bind with warriors to create a formidable fighting team.

The series has an interesting concept and characters and a lot of action. There's only one season available now, but hopefully there will be a second.

Radiant (2018) is actually based on a comic by a French creator, but the anime adaptation is by a Japanese studio, and the English translation of the comic is published by Viz in North America. This one is more light-hearted than Sentenced, at least at its start, and reminds me a bit of Naruto. Monstrous, sort of kaiju-type creatures called Nemeses fall from the sky to menace the populace of this world. People can become infected by contact with a Nemesis. Those that survive gain the power to manipulate the energy-source "fantasia" and become sorcerers (as such superhero as magic-user). Noble sorcerers fight to save the world that hates and fears them. The main character, Seth, is a young Sorcerer in training.

I've only watched a couple of episodes of this one, but it's entertaining enough, if not engrossing necessarily. I find it interesting that it's basically a superhero story but in a very (for American audiences) nonstandard superhero setting, something it sort of shares with Sentenced.

Last, but certainly not least is Witch Hat Atelier (2026). This one is based on a Harvey Award winning manga, and from the anime so far, I can see why it was well-regarded. A young girl named Coco with a lifelong interest in magic accidentally casts a spell that turns her mother to crystal. Though it's against the rules, she is taken as an apprentice by a witch named Qifrey (Who has an ulterior motive. He wants information on the outlawed Brim Hats who are the source of the spell Coco cast.) and joins the other apprentices at Qifrey's atelier. 

I'm enjoying the unfolding mystery of witch society and nature of the schism between them and the Brim Hats. The animation on the series is really nice with designs reminiscent of Studio Ghibli. 

Masters of the Universe (2026)

My brother and I indulged in a bit of 80s nostalgia last weekend and took in the new Masters of the Universe movie. We both enjoyed. It's not without its as my brother put it: "It may not be the best Masters of the Universe move you could hope for, but it's probably the best one your likely to get."

The approach the move takes is kind of a fusion of the "social commentary plus affectionate poking fun at its silliness" approach of Barbie with the now default action-comedy of Guardians of the Galaxy. There also seems to be a strain of pure camp reminiscent of Flash Gordon (1980). It's not a bad approach, in theory, but the film can't decide exactly on its message (or at least can't seem to get the plot in place to support it), and its comedy, despite some funny moments, sometimes falls flat or is belabored. Yes, Fisto's name and schtick are funny to adults, but make the joke once and move on!

At times, the film seems to really need you to understand it realizes it's all silly by adding a joke or undercutting a serious bit with a gag. Playing it straight and trusting the audience to know that you were winking at them--or just allowing them to enjoy it whether you were or weren't--seems to be something the filmmakers weren't ready to do. And maybe they're right for 2026, I don't know.

Anyway, I started with the less good part. There are a lot of things I think the film does unambiguously right. The production design is good, more aesthetically pleasing than say Marvel's recent efforts. The action sequences are engaging. Pretty much all the elements of the MOTU mythos you might want to see in a first film are there. It also makes an effort to include a lot of characters, though inevitably there are still some that got left out. Sorry Stratos fans!

The cast is good overall, though some of them have more to do or more interesting to do than others. Leto really shines as Skeletor with a good mix of camp and menace without trying to specifically mimic the cackling Skeletor of the 80s cartoon. 

I would also note that despite at times making fun of the property, it never feels like those involved thought they were better than the material. The jokiness is the same sort of fond/nostalgic jokiness that comes from teens goofing on the cartoons of their youth or from internet memes using Skeletor. They are making fun with MOTU not making fun of it.

The weekend box office results are in, and it looks to have under-performed which is not wholly unexpected. It's not a property younger audiences are going to have a connection to, and honestly the language and adult humor don't make it ideal to use it to introduce kids to MOTU. Like the Dungeons & Dragons movie, though, I think if you're in the group it's aimed at, you're likely to enjoy it.

Have you XNOO?

Have you backed XNOO #1, It's a 276 page "aperiodical" fantasy comics anthology. It features work by several rpg and comic artists, among them Artyom Trakhanov, Goran Gligović, James West, Alexey Gorboot, Stefan Poag, and my frequent collaborator, Jason Sholtis. Here's a sample:

I'm so pleased that it also features the debut of my Land of Azurth comic "The Runaway Shadow" featuring art by comics veteran Mike Kazaleh. You can see a sample of that just above.

Filling out the issue are articles on related topics. My text piece is on comics adaptations of literary Sword & Sorcery characters.

You're going to want to check it out!

Head over to Kickstarter now.

Warlord's Return

 

World's Finest #51 by Mark Waid and Adrian Gutierrez came out this week, and as I mentioned previously, it features an appearance by Skartaris, Travis Morgan, and several of Warlord's supporting cast. The conceit of Waid's World's Finest series is that it is "earlier" adventurers of Batman and Superman so he can give it a bit of a retro spin will having set in the current DC Universe (whatever that actually means in terms of continuity these days). This means that we are treated to Batman's and Superman's first meeting with Travis Morgan and perhaps a bit of a setting how his backstory and Skartaris are interpreted these days.

In dialogue with Robin, Batman fills the reader in that Travis Morgan was an Air Force pilot that disappeared over the Arctic in his SR-71 "years ago" as they follow the course of a more recent SR-71 pilot to disappear named Kreitzer. We are later told Morgan's disappearance was "a year or so" before Batman and Superman went public, so the timeline is kept vague, but they are clearly retconning his disappearance being in 1969. 

Waid keeps (or rath re-introduces, since DC dropped this after Grell left) the aspect of time running differently in Skartaris than on Earth. Morgan is whitehaired as always and says he has lived "a lifetime" in Skartaris. Krietzer, who only disappeared recently from Earth's perspective has been there for "years" Skartarian time. In the original series, time was strange in Skartaris, but mostly it appeared that time ran quicker on Earth, so this inverts things.

Much of Warlord's supporting cast makes an appearance, including Machiste, Tara, Mariah, and Shakira make an appearance, prompting an amusing comment from Robin:

While the art looks nice overall (with Guerrero's coloring really stealing the show for me), I can't say I care for Guitterrez's rendition of Morgan or any of his crew. Morgan's winged helm looks like it has actually feathers stuck to it. None of the fur garments worn by Morgan, Shakira, or Tara look particularly like fur. I get the since Guiterrez is a superhero guy out of his area of competency drawing these Frazetta-descended costumes. 

Free Comic Book Day 2026

 I went down to my local comic bookstore back on Saturday, May 2, for this years Free Comic Book Day. The story seemed to be doing good business. There were a lot of titles, and I picked up a few titles for myself and a few for my daughter. This is what I got:

Avatar: Legends/Minecraft (Dark Horse): My daughter and I are both Avatar fans, but she also likes Minecraft. This one is free in digital format, too.

Energon Universe 2026 Special (Image/Skybound): This one you can get digitally, but not for free. I've read the MASK story here. They've slowly been building up to the MASK series, which I'm not sure I'm interested in, but they've integrated it reasonably well with the existing universe. There are shorts with the other Energon Universe properties, but the only one I've read yet is the G.I. Joe stories that shows us whats going on with Hawk who we find out a few issues ago had been replaced for sometime by Zartan. We also get Zartan's origin.

Jem and the Holograms/My Little Pony (Dark Horse): A "Comics Giveaway Day" double feature, this one is a double-sided "flip" style like the Ace Double paperbacks back in the day. My Daughter has enjoyed the My Little Pony comics in the past, but this will be her first exposure to the 80s stylings of Jem.

Journey to the West (Manga Classics/UDON): This is like the Classics Illustrated of today, judging by most of the Manga Classics titles they produce, but Journey to the West piqued my interest in a way that Frankenstein or Jungle Book wouldn't. I'm going to attempt to get my daughter to give it a try. This is just part of the story, of course. The actual comic comes out in September.

Masters of the Universe/Dungeons & Dragons (Dark Horse): This is another book bills itself as for "Comics Giveaway Day," which I'm not really sure what the difference is. You can get this one digitally for free.

The Vintage Comics of Lulu

I'd mostly used the print-on-demand and independent bookstore site lulu for indie rpg stuff in the past, but I've noticed there are a number of vintage comic books and comic strip collections available there. Some are public domain, some are likely of unclear copyright status, and others are perhaps charitably classed as "abandoned" to various degrees.

Here are a couple of places to check for a number of 40s and 50s comics.

The Comic Strip Appreciation Group has a number of restored, vintage strips collected on their page.

Warlord News

Being a big fan, I always keep my eye out for comics news related to Mike Grell's Warlord. Most of the time, new items are few and far between, so it's kind of exciting to have two things on the horizon.

The first and biggest is the official word that there will be a second volume of The Warlord by Mike Grell Omnibus. It's scheduled for November and will include the last Grell issues of the original run and the first annual, plus some additional material. This leaves the 90s limited series and the 2009 series for a volume 3. I'd also like to see the remainder of the original series collected, even though Grell wasn't involved, but that's just me.

Also, the current World's Finest series by Mark Waid and Adrián Gutiérrez is slated to have a 3-part Skartaris arc starting in May with issue 51. Check out the covers by Dan Mora of the 3 issues here: